Loading...
Mindfulness practice aims to modulate internal distress. To expand knowledge on the physical and mental benefits of mindfulness, researchers randomized 35 healthy unemployed adults who exhibited moderate-to-high levels of stress to a 3-day program of residential treatment with mindfulness-based stress reduction (Health Enhancement through Mindfulness [HEM]) or with a relaxation program that included similar activities but emphasized restfulness.
Before and after the program, participants underwent neuroimaging, and levels of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-6 were measured. Compared with the relaxation program, HEM was associated with increased resting-state functional connectivity (FC) between the posterior cingulate cortex, a …